I onion, chopped fine or ground (I used my Omega juicer with the blank in)

8-10 cloves of garlic, minced or ground (see above)

4-6 tablespoons fresh ginger root, peeled and grated or ground as above (I used the smaller amount this time)

Mix chopped fruit and nuts into a large bowl. Add/substitute any other fruit you like. (Leave grapes whole if you use them.)

Add salt, lemon juice, and the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Stuff kimchi mixture into clean glass jars. Pack it tightly, pressing down until the brine rises. If necessary, add a little water. (This is unlikely to be necessary if you use pineapple or other very juicy fruit.) Lightly cap the jars (leaving the lids loose) and place them into a pan to catch any juices that bubble over during fermentation. Uncap the jars every day and (using clean fingers!) press down the kimchi to keep it submerged. If the brine is well up over the fruit, the pressing is unnecessary, but gives you an excuse to taste the kimchi by licking your fingers once you’re done pressing.

This kimchi should be ready in about a week, depending on how warm your kitchen is. I usually store my fermenting kimchi in my cold oven to keep the cats away from it, but you can keep it on the counter if that’s safe at your house. This fruit kimchi will taste more and more alcoholic as it ages. Refrigerate it when it’s done and serve as a relish.

Note: The original recipe also called for a bunch of chopped cilantro, which I omitted.

The original fruit mix in Sandor’s recipe was 1/4 pineapple, 2 plums, 2 pears, 1 apple, and 1 small bunch of grapes for 1 quart. (That sounds like a lot of fruit to squeeze into a quart jar, but that was his take on it.) All the other quantities were approximately halved from the recipe above, except that I only used 1 onion for a larger amount of fruit. He called for one onion or leek in one quart of kimchi. He used cashews but allowed a substitution of any nuts. Brazil nuts were what I had on hand.